Very large Horse Chestnut with rot

[OllyJenkins]

I have a massive horse chestnut in my back garden. It's quite close to the house and if it went over it could cause some serious damage.

I've recently noticed a hole in it where it looks like a limb has been removed, reaction material has formed but it has not been able to heal fully and has developed wet rot inside the hole.

Should this ideally be taken down asap, or will it have a few years/decades of life left in it yet? We're in a very windy area and I worry about it coming down in a storm.

Tia for any advice!

Edited March 11 by OllyJenkins
Adding Tag

[OllyJenkins]

1 hour ago, Tree monkey 1682 said:

Is it far away from property ? And also its survived quite a few storms already , however it could be on its way out . But saying this ive a client who's trees  in a similar state it had a bit of a reduction and its been fine .

Depends what you want really 

Yes it's worryingly close to the house, it would cause a lot of damage if it were to fall the wrong way. The problem is the rot is quite close to the bottom, so it would either be reducing quite a lot, or I don't know whether cutting off below the rot/coppicing would be an option.

P.S. it is way closer to the house than it looks in the pictures, and a lot larger than it looks. I have to crane my head to see the top of it.

[Tree monkey 1682]

Is it far away from property ? And also its survived quite a few storms already , however it could be on its way out . But saying this ive a client who's trees  in a similar state it had a bit of a reduction and its been fine .

Depends what you want really 

[Stubby]

1 hour ago, Tree monkey 1682 said:

Is it far away from property ?

He says  " its quite close to the house and If it went over it would cause some seriouse damage "

Edited March 11 by Stubby

[Stubby]

16 minutes ago, OllyJenkins said:

 I have to crane my head to see the top of it.

You must have a huge head , needing a crane to look up ! 😀 The fact of the matter is its very hard to give a difinitive answer from an on line photo . 

Edited March 11 by Stubby

[Mick Dempsey]

18 minutes ago, OllyJenkins said:

Yes it's worryingly close to the house, it would cause a lot of damage if it were to fall the wrong way. The problem is the rot is quite close to the bottom, so it would either be reducing quite a lot, or I don't know whether cutting off below the rot/coppicing would be an option.

P.S. it is way closer to the house than it looks in the pictures, and a lot larger than it looks. I have to crane my head to see the top of it.

Cutting off below the rot would be a bad idea.

HCs tend to rot back from large cuts, rather as yours has done.

You could get a machine to verify the extent of the rot (I forget its name, picto-seismo-thingy-gram) but I suspect that would cost the same as a half decent, sympathetic reduction, which will probably be the prognosis anyway.

 

Just my thoughts, opinions vary.

[OllyJenkins]

19 minutes ago, Stubby said:

You must have a huge head , needing a crane to look up ! 😀 The fact of the matter is its very hard to give a difinitive answer from an on line photo . 

Haha yes, I did think that. I don't think it has quite made it into the heartwood yet but it's definitely getting there, it's a big enough hole for me to get both my hands in there.

Might get someone out to take a look at it in person as I feel that it at least needs reducing to minimise the risk of a topple.

[Stubby]

14 minutes ago, OllyJenkins said:

Haha yes, I did think that. I don't think it has quite made it into the heartwood yet but it's definitely getting there, it's a big enough hole for me to get both my hands in there.

Might get someone out to take a look at it in person as I feel that it at least needs reducing to minimise the risk of a topple.

Its a shame if it has to go from the bear form of the tree in your photo . However nothing lasts for ever . I am 73 .....

[OllyJenkins]

29 minutes ago, Mick Dempsey said:

Cutting off below the rot would be a bad idea.

HCs tend to rot back from large cuts, rather as yours has done.

You could get a machine to verify the extent of the rot (I forget its name, picto-seismo-thingy-gram) but I suspect that would cost the same as a half decent, sympathetic reduction, which will probably be the prognosis anyway.

 

Just my thoughts, opinions vary

I can't remember what they're called either 😂 

That's very helpful information either way, thank you

[OllyJenkins]

30 minutes ago, Stubby said:

Its a shame if it has to go from the bear form of the tree in your photo . However nothing lasts for ever . I am 73 .....

It would be a shame, it's a lovely tree and my children have loved playing conkers with its produce. 

Well I'm 32 and I'm forever hopeful that I will last forever! 😉😄

[Rich Rule]

PICUS test is what Mick was unable to remember.